PGRFA under Development? What's that? Does it matter?

What are PGRFA under development? The Treaty has a special clause governing PGRFA under development, indicating that they are treated differently from PGRFA other than PGRFA under development. (Article 12.3(e) states "Access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture under development, including material being developed by farmers, shall be at the discretion of its developer, during the period of its development") However, the Treaty does not define the term, and does not state what discretion the developer has. The SMTA does both these things. Its definition links PGRFA under development to germplasm under the multilateral system: "Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture under Development” means material derived from the Material, and hence distinct from it, that is not yet ready for commercialization and which the developer intends to further develop or to transfer to another person or entity for further development. Thus breeding lines can be classified as PGRFA under development in the sense of the SMTA only if they are derived from other PGRFA in the Multilateral System. Does it matter whether we classify breeding lines as PGRFA under development or not? The SMTA allows greater flexibility in the way PGRFA under development are shared. However, at the moment, there is no real difference, as we distribute breeding lines under the same conditions as genebank accessions. Of course if, in the future, if we decide to distribute breeding lines differently as permitted by the Treaty and the SMTA, the distinction may become more important.